for decades, raising the debt ceiling was something that congress has been willing to do. since the presidency of fdr, congress has to do. since fdr, congress voted to raise it literally dozens of times. the way we run the country, for generations, you may not like it. it is how we use the debt ceiling, we have raised it 89 times just between 1939 and 2010. the only time we haven't had to raise it in recent years was at the very end of the clinton administration when we started to run a budget surplus, remember that? but other than that, it happens as a matter of course. it is routine, but in 2010, the republicans decided they wouldn't do it anymore. and in the standoff, where they said they wouldn't do it again, even though it was done with presidents before them, they were not going to do it. the country could default on its debts, that was an economic disaster. check it out. this is job growth, month to month in the year 2011. during that time when it is weirdly suppressed, oh, yeah, it is the fight over the debt ceiling. so when you hear others say oh yeah, it shouldn'